LAMPARD’S LADS POISED TO SEIZE INITIATIVE IN THE RACE FOR FOURTH

CHELSEA v MAN UTD STAMFORD BRIDGE, KICK-OFF 8pm – LIVE ON SKY SPORTS MAIN EVENT

THE LAST time Chelsea faced Manchester United in the Premier League, manager Frank Lampard left convinced his side would make the top four. Never mind that he had just watched his team being thrashed 4-0. It was quite a baptism of fire for Lampard. Opening day of the season, Old Trafford, his first game as Chelsea boss — the club where he is idolised. ‘I saw enough to suggest we could make the top four,’ said Lampard (left). ‘I saw it again in the Super Cup against Liverpool. I said to the players after both games I felt we have enough here to have a successful season. ‘So I didn’t find it a seminal moment or think: “Wow”, we’ve lost 4-0. It didn’t feel nice on the day and it would be great to correct it.’ Even with one of the youngest squads in the Premier League, Chelsea sit fourth, they face Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round and are gearing up for a Champions League last-16 clash against Bayern Munich. Lampard isn’t satisfied, of course. The ultimate test of his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge will come at the end of the season. At least as player, Lampard was used to finishing the job. In the race for fourth place, victory tonight will extend Chelsea’s lead over United to nine points — surely an insurmountable lead to scale for Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer’s team. Lampard, though, won’t be taking anything for granted. ‘Not at nine points, not with the amount of points left to play for and the way the Premier League is,’ said Lampard. ‘The landscape is tougher in terms of picking up points, as you can see from the points totals in and around ourselves. ‘This year, it looks a lot different, with points being taken off different teams. It’s a changing of the Premier League, slightly.’ Solskjaer, meanwhile, has denied that United’s deadline-day signing of 30-year-old Odion Ighalo was an act of desperation. Indeed, he is

open to the possibility of the Nigeria striker making his loan move permanent. Ighalo is set to be in United’s squad to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tonight after training with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday. The 30-year-old missed last week’s training camp in Marbella and even stayed away from the club’s Carrington base due to concerns over the coronavirus following his move from Shanghai Shenhua. United have been criticised for leaving it until the final hours of the January transfer window to sign a player who has spent the last three years in China since leaving Watford.

Asked if it smacked of desperation, Solskjaer (right) said: ‘He’s a loan player that we’re very happy with having here. Hopefully, he’ll prove to you what I think he will. He’s a proven goalscorer, so he’ll do all right.’ On the unlikely prospect of boyhood United fan Ighalo making a permanent move to Old Trafford, Solskjaer added: ‘When you’re in the door, and if you impress, it gives you a chance. That’s exactly the same for everyone who signs, if it’s permanent or if it’s a loan. If you impress as a player, if you impress as a person, if you can help this group improve, of course there’s a chance we’ll look at extending things and signing. ‘That doesn’t just go for Odion but, yes, his incentive is to play as well, as he can and it’s up to us to make sure he wants to stay if we want him.’ Having beaten Chelsea in the Premier League and Carabao Cup already this season, United go to Stamford Bridge with two new signings in Oghalo and Bruno Fernandes to play a Chelsea team who didn’t add to their squad in January. ‘It’s not just us and Chelsea but I’m very happy with the two guys we’ve brought in,’ said Solskjaer. ‘To finally have got Bruno over the line has been great, and it will be great to integrate Odion as well.’